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Stirrup Spout Vessel Depicting an Owl Supernatural Decapitator

Stirrup Spout Vessel Depicting an Owl Supernatural Decapitator

Date: AD 200 - 550 (Early Intermediate Period, Moche III-IV Phases)
Medium: slipped earthenware
Credit Line:Gift, David Bernstein and Family
Object number: 2006.7.2
In Moche art, birds of prey are sometimes depicted as Supernatural Decapitators who sever the heads of sacrificial victims. This Decapitator Owl has a face with human eyes and wears a mask with jaguar fangs. Holding a crescent shaped tumi knife to sever the head of its victim, it carries a conch shell on its back, and has a noose around its neck like those used to restrain captives.
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